Mollie behaviour

[Lenna]

I have 8 sailfin mollies, 2 males and 6 females. Anyway I seem to notice that the pregnant ones get quite aggressive. One of the most aggressive gave birth about a week ago and since then hasn't been the same. I know the stress of birth must have some effect but it's been awhile now and the other females seem to bounce straight back. Now she tends to keep her dorsal fin down all the time and swim away from other fish. Is this a sign of submission, I used to have a male that was bottom ranked who never put his sail up. Does anyone know? She used to be such a b*#&h, but I miss my queen of the tank.

 

[HeatherSweetness]

IMO my mollies are the most sensitive to stress when they give birth. My female sailfin ALWAYS gets fungus and ick right after she drops,everytime. As long as she has lots of places to hide and keep away from the other mollies,she should recover eventually. Keep an eye on her in case she gets ick or fungus,it happens sometimes. Are you adding salt to your mollies? When my female gets super stressed after a drop I add extra salt and it seems to help.

 

[Stacey269]

I just have to echo Heathersweetness. I have sailfin mollies too. My female tends to get stressed and sometimes gets ick after giving birth also. I do find that adding salt performs wonders. 1 tbsp per 5 gal does the trick. Try that for yours even if she doesn't have any ick or anything. It helps with stress too. Just curious, do you find that your females are very protective of their fry? Mine is which I found to be opposite of what everything I've read says. She watches them like a hawk and chases away anyone who comes near any of them. She may swim from one end of the tank quickly to another to make sure every single fry is safe.

 

[Lenna]

Yes I do keep them in salt so I've never had them get ich or any other fungus. They are far from protective in my tank. Usually they eat their own fry even as they're being born. I don't use breeding nets so I'm lucky to get a 10% survival rate. It's a bit disappointing but at least I know the best, most healthy fry are the survivors.

 

[jams.alaskan]

My sailfins are rough/tough gals, it's my black molly gals that always seem to get the "baby blues".

ALASKA